Raynaud’s phenomenon — the clinical picture, treatment and diagnostics

Raynaud’s phenomenon is the triphasic phenomenon which consists of sudden paling of distal parts of the body with the following cyanosis and occurance of erythema in the third stage. This phenomenon is a result of peripheral microcirculation disorder and usually appears after exposure to cold. If the RP is a primary, idiopathic (not associated with other diseases) then the other name for this condition is Raynaud’s disease (80% of RP cases). If the RP is secondary to other medical conditions such as connective tissue disorders, arterial alterations etc., then Raynaud’s syndrome is diagnosed and that is why further diagnostics is required in every case of RP

Vascular changes in autoimmunological connective tissue diseases

Vascular complications due to systemic connective tissue diseases pose a very difficult clinical problem. Due to the nature and location of the lesions, they very often prevent revascularization procedures and the conservative treatment is usually insufficient, which leads to a growth in the degree of ischemia and the need to amputate the limb. The authors clearly show the clinical picture of the most common diseases in this group — systemic lupus erythomatosus, systemic scleroderma, dermatomyositis, mixed connective tissue disease and Sjögren’s syndrome

Detection of asymptomatic brain involvement in systemic sclerosis

Background: Systemic sclerosis is a chronic connective tissue disease, characterized by vascular changes, accompanied by fibrosis of the skin and internal organs. Neuropsychiatric symptoms are considered rare in these patients. Objectives The aim of the study was to evaluate frequency of morphological brain abnormalities in those patients with systemic sclerosis, who demonstrate no clinical symptoms of central nervous system involvement. Material/Methods: 24 patients with systemic sclerosis, who had no neurological or psychiatric abnormalities were included into the study. In all patients brain magnetic resonance imaging was performed. Fluidattenuated inversion-recovery and fast spin-echo magnetic resonance imaging sequences were used. Results: In 37% (9/24) of these patients brain magnetic resonance images revealed abnormalities. These included: cortical and subcortical atrophy (4/24), single focal lesions (5/24) or diffuse lesions (2/24). In 3 patients simultaneous presence of more then one of these abnormalities was detected. Brain computer tomography revealed abnormalities in 2/24 (8%) of patients. Conclusions: Our results indicate, that the central nervous system may be involved in systemic sclerosis despite lack of neuropsychiatric symptoms. Brain magnetic resonance imaging allows early detection of these abnormalities. We suggest to perform brain magnetic resonance in all patients of systemic sclerosis before introducing treatment